Confessions
by NikkitaTheMetahuman
Summary: Fear. Anger. Revenge. The 3 words that bonded Azula and her new sisters: Shiki, Fenang, Tanni, Pashi, Vonna and Zirin together. But where did they come from for the seven Fire Warriors? And why are they only confessing why they were really put in mental asylums now? Aftermath of Smoke and Shadow Part 3.
1. Aftermath

**So I'm not gonna lie. Part 3 of smoke and shadow was okay, but it's only opened up more questions and kinda let me down in some areas, mainly regarding Azula. This is an aftermath and it will be followed by a sequel, but this fanfic is focusing on the Kemurikage. Enjoy!**

 **Here are the names I've given to the kemurikage (other than Zirin) shown on the image cover:**

 **Top left- Shiki**

 **Middle left- Fenang**

 **Bottom left- Tanni**

 **Top right- Pashi**

 **Middle right- Vonna**

 **Bottom right- Zirin**

* * *

It's around late at night in the fire nation with only half of the moon out in the sky and in the garden of tranquil souls, 7 kemurikage masqueraders were finally leaving their former base of operations. They ran across the earth carrying the bones of deceased royals deep inside it in the shape of a V; their leader at the front with 1 short kemurikage at her left and right and 2 tall kemurikage behind them. They all had their arms behind them to speeden their pace and once in the town where they had raided homes of their children, they sprang quietly on to the rooftops with one destination in mind; the docks in Harbor City. Once they arrived, they halted in front of a small ship. The leader turned to face the group and once certain no guards or civilians were present, she motioned her followers to sneak on board the ship. She led them below the deck and into a master bedroom where the leader then took of her mask and hood, revealing the sharp, gold eyes, flawless, white skin and symbolic front bangs of Princess Azula. The other kemurikage followed her lead and removed their masks and hoods. On Azula's left were Shiki, Fenang and Tanni. On her right were Pashi, Vonna and Zirin. Tanni came forward to Azula and said "We held up our end of the deal; are you going to hold yours up?"

"Why else would we be here Tanni?" Azula asked, wondering how Tanni could ask a question full of distrust to her leader. Then again, the the 2 of them and the other 5 sisters of fear, anger and revenge knew that trust was for fools and it was terrible when you couldn't trust the people closest to you; Azula especially knew that more than any of them, so she answered Tanni's question how she and the others would want to hear it "But to clarify for you all, yes I will; you helped me with my problem here, so now I'll help you with your problem." The six sisters all huddled closer together in the fire lit room as the former princess gave them instructions "This ship is vacant and assuming one of you knows how to work a ship, it can take you to a place where you can start over without anyone knowing about you or taking you back to those dreadful asylums."

"Guess it's a good thing I'm here or we'd be doomed and stranded." said the glum voice of Pashi.

"Indeed Pashi." Azula agreed with her. Without Pashi's elite intelligence on how ships work, the princess could never have made this escape plan for her sisters possible.

"Where exactly is this place that sounds completely perfect?" came the quiet yet demanding voice of Shiki, who thought that this escape plan Azula came up with sounded too perfect and wanted to be certain that she was right about it being flawless like most of her past plans had been.

"A small town on the outskirts of the fire nation called Hira'a. When you get there, ask where the director of the Hira'a acting troupe lives and you could probably stay in his house as long as you remain invisible."

"How do know he's not in his home right now darling?" asked the rather arrogant and posh-sounding Vonna that was already annoying to Azula even when she didn't call her "Darling", but she put up with it and answered her question too "Because he's been here for the past month in the royal palace."

Vonna's eyes seemed to bulge; as did the eyes of the other spirit impersonators after Azula finished her sentence. But no one pryed further into that as they were certain that there was no way even Azula would make up something like that. Instead, the conversation went back to the original topic when Fenang asked in her cold, dark tone "How come we're going to Hira'a specifically? I mean, we could go anywhere; even outside the fire nation where no one would recognise us. What's so special about Hira'a?"

This was the first question that Azula actually didn't mind answering; she admired Fenang's ability to think ahead "Because if something goes wrong, there's an alternative. Near the director's house is a shortcut into a forest called Forgetful Valley. Inside it is a wolf spirit that will drink at 1 of 4 pools in the forest and when it does, a spirit with the ability to give a person a new face appears."

"How in Agni's name do you know that?" came Vonna's annoying accent again, but Azula once again put up with it and hesitantly said while looking down "Because I've been to Hira'a, I've seen the spirit and what it did to... **someone I knew**." Zirin, the only one who had remained more silent than the usually silent Shiki, knew who Azula was talking about and prayed that Vonna's curiosity had ended as Azula wouldn't want to talk about this someone. Azula then told them to wait for another hour before setting off or else a ship setting off in the dead of night could attract some unwanted attention. As the six sisters laid down to get some rest before setting off, Zirin finally spoke "Can I talk to you Azula?"

Azula nodded and followed Zirin into another bedroom. Zirin then asked "How come you're not coming with us?"

"I told you all before Zirin; I need to stay in the capital to fulfil my destiny by making my brother into the Firelord I tried to be." Azula said with full certainty. Zirin believed that, but still thought Azula was holding something back. But then she figured Azula wouldn't open up about it and decided to not pry considering that they were on a schedule, so she said "Okay then" and began to walk away, only to be stopped by Azula's voice "Zirin wait."

 _"Huh, maybe she is holding something back after all."_ Zirin thought. She turned around and asked "What is it?"

"There is actually something I feel I need to confess to you."

* * *

 **Also, I know they're called the fire warriors, but they'll come with that title later in the story. Anyway, hope you liked Chapter 1.**


	2. Azula's confession

"Well, what is it you want to confess to me?" Zirin asked, knowing how it was hard for Azula to admit her feelings, but wondering what was it she was going to admit. Azula then plucked up the needed courage to say what she had to say "Do you remember when we first met?"

This wasn't what Zirin was expecting Azula to say; now she really wanted to know what Azula was going to confess, so she answered honestly "It's not exactly easy to forget when we did."

"Yeah." was all that came out of Azula's mouth. As the 2 girls locked eyes, they recalled when they first met in the asylum.

* * *

 _Azula was 15 and in a straitjacket in the corner of her completely white bedroom at the asylum; twitching and shaking slightly. She didn't know how long for certain, but she had been in the asylum for 5 months now and hadn't improved since her brother first locked her away in here. It was bed time for patients, but for Azula, it was "Strap me down to an uncomfortable mattress too tight time." As if her mind was on queue, the locked doors of her room opened with 4 muscular male guards and her 2 female nurses coming in. The 2 nurses undid the straps on her straitjacket, then quickly backed out of the way as Azula would get into her usual routine of fighting the guards, giving a few of them minor scratches and burns, but eventually being defeated as they managed to each grab her arms and legs and then hold her down on the bed while her 2 nurses would strap all 4 of her limbs to the mattress so she'd be forced to sleep._

 _Or at least that's what they hoped would happen; but Azula didn't give them that or any other satisfaction. For almost the entire night, she would scream and pull and struggle against her restraints, not caring that her knuckles were turning white or that her wrists and ankles became red and sore. She stopped only to take in quick deep breaths before resuming her attempts to break free, but to no avail just like every other night. No one knew why she did this every night considering that she was only damaging her wrists and ankles and even though Azula had told them why, they didn't believe her and told that it was all in her head. Azula only continued putting herself through this physical torture for only one reason: her mother. All Azula could look at was a vision of her treacherous mother in the reflective ceiling and all she could hear when she closed her eyes was her mind-penetrating voice_ **"Stop hurting yourself Azula. You'll only make it worse for yourself."**

 _Azula glared at her mother with burning hatred in her almost blood-shot eyes and bared her teeth at the illusion like an animal as she shouted to the ceiling"OH you'd LOVE IT if I stopped, WOULDN'T YOU?! I STOP AND CONTINUE TO HEAR YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD AND YOU'LL GET THE SATISFACTION OF ME BEING WEAKER THAN YOU! WELL I'M NOT! YOU HEAR ME?!; I'M NOT WEAK LIKE ZUZU!"_

 _The guards who patrolled the hallways at night always quickened their pace when passing Azula's room so they could get away from the sound of her craziness faster. Normally, when patients have night terrors, the guards would use sedatives to get them to quiet down, but they couldn't on Azula. When she first came to the asylum and she had these outbursts at night, the doctors instructed any passing guards who heard her to give her injections of fast-acting shirshu toxin, but they found that after she woke up from them, she was even more violent than before. So they resolved from then on to only use the sedatives on her if it was absolutely necessary._

 _But perhaps the guards rushing past the ex-princess' room was for the best. For if the guards hadn't quickened their pace and covered their ears, they would probably have noticed the woman behind them sneak into Azula's room. She was dressed in the pink clothing worn by all female patients and had been sneakily wandering about the halls for the past 2 years now without getting caught, though she had been in the asylum for longer. For the past 5 months, she had noticed whenever she was near this particular hall that there was always constant screaming at night, but it was as if no one could hear it. She would've found out what it was sooner if the doors to this hall hadn't been locked, but this time they were open. She figured the guards were too focused on getting away from whatever was making all this horrific screaming from the only door in the entire hall and this could be the one chance she'd get to solve this baffling mystery. As she crawled in and quietly shut the door behind her, she saw a figure strapped down to a bed that was attempting to break free from her restraints. As she got closer, she saw that what was making all this animalistic noise for the past 5 months was a teenage girl. The girl didn't seem to notice her, so she came closer._

 _Azula took another short break to breathe, but as she did, she saw another figure that she didn't recognise and began to panic. "Who are you?!" Before she could tell her her name was Zirin, Azula then looked back to her mother who began to fade away"WHAT IS THIS MOTHER?! ARE YOU TRYING TO MOCK ME BY SENDING SOMEONE ELSE IN YOUR PLACE TO TORMENT ME?!"_

 _Zirin looked up to the ceiling, but couldn't see anything. She guessed this girl had hallucinations and was trying to get out of her restraints in order to cover her ears. Azula began to struggle again and Zirin looked at the girl's wrists to see that they were red. Seeing how this girl was hurting herself, she came forward and held both her wrists down to get her to stop "Hey! Stop that!"_

 _When the woman touched her wrists, Azula stopped and laid back; not taking her wide eyes off the woman. Azula was thinking how could she touch me? Mother's past illusions couldn't touch her physically, which could only mean..."You're... you're real?" Azula finally said._

 _"Yeah, I'm real." Zirin replied as she let go of her wrists. After letting the girl calm down a bit, Zirin then said "If you're trying to get out those restraints, push your arms into the mattress and then pull them towards you." Azula thought about this while the girl just watched. She wasn't certain if she could..._ **trust** _what this girl was saying. Azula had trusted Mai and Ty lee and they ended up betraying her for Zuko. For all Azula knew, she was right; this was one of mother's tricks of giving her hope and then crushing it. Then again, her mother hadn't told her how to get out of the leather straps confining her to the bed. Maybe she could trust this woman. She pushed her left arm into the mattress as deep as she could and then pulled it slowly towards her. She couldn't believe it; she was finally free. She then undid the strap on her right wrist while the girl lit a torch on each side of the door with a fireball and undid the straps on her ankles. Azula sat up and took in the woman before her. She had a tanned skin colour, very long brown hair that was in 2 braids, brown eyes and freckles around her nose and the middle of her face. Azula then asked "How'd you know that would work?"_

 _"It's what I've been doing for 2 years... and not that this matters but... my name's Zirin."_

 _Azula said the woman's name to herself "Zirin." She then asked "You've been here for 2 years?"_

 _"No, I've been here longer." Zirin stated with a plain face that masked her depression of that very sad fact. Azula further asked "How come you're in this nuthouse?; you don't seem crazy."_

 _Zirin didn't want to tell her the truth. She feared this girl wouldn't want her around any more, but she didn't want to lie to her either. So she came to a conclusion: she would exaggerate the truth a little bit "It's more like I'm invisible; I'm invisible to almost everyone, including my own parents. They didn't view me as their daughter; they viewed me more as 1 of 9 runts. Because I was different from all of my other siblings and adopted cousins, they sent me here when I was 14. I thought at the time they just wanted some space and they'd take me back when they ready, but they haven't come back at all. And they committed me to this prison 5 years ago."_

 _"That's..." Azula couldn't find the words to describe that story. It sounded similar to Ty lee's childhood, except Ty lee's parents didn't commit her or any of her six sisters to an asylum for life. Azula then finished her sentence with one word "...sad."_

 _Zirin already felt guilty for lying to this girl. In attempt to distract herself from the guilt, she then asked the girl on the bed "Can I ask what your name is?"_

 _Azula was hesitant at first, but then decided that Zirin had earned it for getting out of her bed restraints "I'm Azula."_

 _Zirin looked up with a little smile on her face "Azula? You have the same name as the fire nation princess."_

 _Azula began to stutter at finding the words to tell her the obvious "Um...well er..." was all it took for realisation to hit Zirin, who said while bowing her head downwards"Oh, er sorry for that princess."_

 _Azula liked that Zirin referred to her as Princess and decided she had earned more"No it's okay; you can call me Azula." Zirin smiled at this._

* * *

Back in the present, Azula and Zirin then snapped out of the flashback of their first meeting, almost as if they were sharing the exact experience all over again, and Zirin asked "What does our first meeting have to do with whatever you're gonna tell me?"

"Ever since that moment, you've been my first true friend." Azula stated. Zirin was slightly shocked at this, so Azula explained further "Yes, I had Mai and Ty lee, but I used fear to control them and they ended up betraying me. I didn't do the same with you; I didn't use fear to control you. This is just something I wanted you to know before you go to Hira'a."

Zirin thought this over and smiled a little at this. she felt, in a sense, touched and slightly honoured. Then, she thought over something that didn't make sense "Hang on, I thought you told your brother while fighting him in that crypt that he needs to become a Firelord who rules with fear."

A cheeky grin began to grow on Azula's face as she said "I did tell him that."

Zirin now had the facial expression and feeling of a curious child "So why would you tell him that if you don't believe in ruling over your friends with fear?"

Just as Azula predicted, Zirin asked the exact question she figured she would ask, so she answered "Because I lied to Zuko about that in order to scare him."

Zirin's eyes looked as if they were about to shoot right out of their sockets. Azula then said "Well he did put me in that nuthouse for a year! I figured he owed me some form of payback."

Zirin then pieced together the puzzle of why Azula wasn't coming with them to Hira'a "You're going back to the palace to tell him that, aren't you?"

Azula looked down and said "Yeah I am; I didn't wan to tell him the truth in the crypt as I thought someone else would come down, overhear me and think of me as weak."

Zirin nodded "I get that." She was partially distracted from Azula telling her she was her first ever friend. Then, she recalled something else; something she hadn't told Azula. All those feelings of guilt she repressed when asking Azula what her name was finally resurfaced. Her throat seemed to bottle up after Azula said with a shy smile "Anyway, I'm gonna go now. I hope you and the others can start over and... thank you for being my friend." She watched the princess walk to the door and felt deja vu as she shook her head and called to her "Azula wait."

Azula halted in her steps "You're not going to stop me from doing this."

"No it's not that it's... I haven't been honest with you about something." Azula's smile disappeared. Zirin saw this and began to panic as she said in a voice that sounded like she was about to burst into tears "Well, I-I did tell you some truth; I really did feel invisible in my home life..." Azula realised she was talking about the reason she was put in that mental institution "... but it wasn't my parents who put me in that asylum."

"What were you put in for then if not by your non-caring parents?" Azula asked with caution. Zirin looked Azula in the eyes and said with a single tear rolling down her cheek "I was put in that asylum after they and the rest of my family were killed."


	3. Zirin's confession

**neruchan94: because you used please, I updated this story and I hope you still really like how it's going.**

* * *

Azula hadn't taken her eyes away from Zirin, who was now looking down at the floor; or at least away from Azula. The princess' eyes were slightly wider after Zirin told her she was placed in that asylum after her entire family was killed. Azula wondered if Zirin was trying to tell her that she killed her own family. That would explain why Zirin didn't tell her in the first place; Zirin may have feared Azula wouldn't have become her friend if she stated the reason why she was in the asylum. But why would she want to tell her now? Did it accidentally slip out of her mouth? There was only one way to find out, so Azula asked "Did you..." She seemed to trail off as she couldn't seem to ask the question. Zirin now looked at her and Azula tried again "Did you... kill them?"

Zirin looked shocked "What? No! I didn't!" Azula's eyes narrowed; either Zirin was lying or Azula was going crazy again. She wanted he truth. Zirin saw this and said "Honestly, I didn't!" She then turned away from Azula and in a lowered voice with her head hung in shame, she said "Everyone just thinks I did."

Azula's eyes lightened back; she somehow couldn't believe Zirin was a killer and she was right. But it still didn't answer Azula's many questions. She was torn over if she could trust Zirin after finding out that she lied to her about why she was put in that asylum. But the princess did suppose that Zirin was a lot more honest with than Mai and Ty lee were. She lightly grabbed Zirin's palm and lead her to the bed so they could sit down. When Azula saw Zirin's face, silent tears were rolling down her cheeks. The princess decided to do what she did when they first met and trust her to tell the truth "Tell me the truth." Azula said softly.

Zirin nodded as she wiped away her tears "Okay, here's what happened..."

* * *

 _7 years ago:_

 _A 10 year old girl with her hair in 2 short braids was walking around her house, carrying a doll she had received yesterday for her birthday. She stopped at a window and held her doll up at it so she could see the sunset "Look Li, this is where we live; the village of Xing Qi. This is probably the most peaceful place in the whole fire nation."_

 _After saying that, the girl heard the shouting of an old woman "WHERE ARE ALL MY BANANA YAMS?! THIEVES!" The girl crouched down from the window, covering her doll's ears. "Oh, that's just Ms Yea Rha; she always complains about food not being soft enough and accuses practically anyone who comes within 10 feet of her to have stolen her food when it goes missing." An idea hit her to get her mind off Ms Yea Rha "Let's go to our family Li."_

 _She ran down the stairs to the living and kitchen and saw 10 people in the room. They didn't see her as they were too focused in their own activities. They also didn't hear her as she told Li each of their names_

" _That's Mum and Dad in the kitchen" she said pointing to the 2 grown ups in the kitchen preparing supper._

 _She pointed to an 18 year old boy who was on a sofa reading a book titled Fire Nation Fight Strategies "That's my oldest brother Hacci." She then pointed to a 14 year old girl sat next to him who was looking at firebending scrolls "That's my oldest cousin Konni."_

 _She walked to near a giant red rug with a black fire nation insignia on it where 2 twin girls around 7 were playing with a 3 year old boy "Those are my twin cousins Tota and Tato. They're playing with their only brother Sedan."_

 _She looked to the dining table to see a 15 year old boy and an 11 year old girl playing "Water, Earth, Fire, Air" as they waited for their supper to be brought to them "That's my other brother Zamih and final cousin Kettra." She looked about the room and then left to go up to her bedroom. She said to her doll "The reason our cousins live with us Li is because their parents aren't around any more; they died a year ago along with Prince Lu Ten during the 600 day siege of Ba Sing Se." The girl imagined Li looking sad, so she said "I know; it's sad that Sedan won't remember much about his parents, but don't worry though Li; my dad told me that his twin brother Rasal and his wife Rosi died defending the prince. Even if their efforts were in vain, they didn't go down without a fight."_

 _The girl distracted herself and Li again by saying "Anyway, we're coming up here because someone's missing from downstairs, but I know where to find her." And she was right; she walked into the bedroom she shared with her 4 girl cousins and her 15 year old big sister, who was sitting on the bed the furthest from the door. The 10 year old smiled brightly as she walked up to her and said "Hi Zirin."_

 _Zirin looked to her little sister and said with a sad smile "Hey Mari."_

 _Mari was always puzzled when it came to her sister Zirin; unlike her other relatives, Zirin was quiet and distant and appeared very lonely in Mari's eyes. At times, she didn't know how Zirin was Zamih's twin sister as the 2 were very different from each other other than having a freckled face. Nevertheless, Mari loved Zirin, especially since Zirin was the one who gave her Li yesterday._

" _Why are you always up here and not downstairs like everyone else?" Mari asked._

" _I tell you Mari, I feel lonely even when I'm around people. I feel like no one truly sees me." Zirin said looking away from her. Mari came on to the bed and said "If that was true, I wouldn't come up here."_

 _Seeing no change in her sister, Mari then jokingly added "Also, I think you'd act like Ms Yea Rha."_

 _Zirin let a giggle escape her mouth at the thought of that and replied "Yeah, I probably would." Mari smiled to see her efforts to make Zirin smile weren't in vain. Zirin then said "I'm guessing you heard her earlier?"_

" _Ugh, typical ridiculous complaining again about her food missing. I bet she's just sitting on them!"_

" _Actually this time, her banana yams were in fact stolen."_

 _Mari was surprised at this "Wait, you saw someone steal her food?"_

" _I_ _ **am**_ _the one who stole her food." Zirin said with what Mari called 'Cool Confidence'._

" _Why would you do something like that?!" Mari asked, now eager to hear this story; and Zirin was more than happy to tell her "Well no one knows this, but for the past month, I've been her errand girl."_

" _You've seriously been working for her for a whole month?!" Mari asked. After Zirin nodded, Mari further asked "How did you possibly survive doing that ?"_

" _Even I don't know Mari; she said she'd pay me 5 gold pieces a day, but she didn't even give me one bronze piece. She found a "reason" to not pay me whether I was either a few minutes late or when the food I got her is too hard for her teeth or when I argued at her just because I wasn't being paid."_

" _That's horrible sis." Mari said, thinking all of this to be unbelievable. Still, Zirin had never lied to her before, so she believed her. Zirin continued with her story "What's even more horrible is that she insulted me when I did nothing wrong and I let her... so I finally snapped and decided to do something."_

" _And so you stole her yams." Mari said._

" _That isn't all I stole from her." Zirin said as she went under her bed and pulled up a sack with gold pieces in it. Mari was even more surprised now, but Zirin said "I only took what she owed me, so it isn't stealing. How much did she owe me?"_

 _Mari accepted the maths problem and thought about it before giving her answer "5 x 31 iiiiisss... 155?"_

" _Well done." Zirin said patting her little sister's shoulder. "And I used some of that money already to get Li for you." Mari looked at Li with her mouth in awe. Zirin asked "Does she like being here?"_

" _She does." Mari replied "And she likes you; she can be our sister too."_

" _Yes she can." Zirin said hugging her sister with one arm. "You know, I thought no one could see the real me;only you and Li can... and that's enough for me."_

 _Then, a woman's voice called up to them from downstairs"MARI! ZIRIN! SUPPER'S READY!"_

 _Mari shouted down "COMING MUM!" She then said "See? People at least know you exist." She took Zirin's hand and the sisters went downstairs for supper. When they arrived, everyone else was seated at the table. They sat next to each other with Zirin at the end of the right of the table and Mari between her and Kettra. Before they could eat, a knock came at the door and all heads turned to it. Zirin's father got up and answered the door to see a group of fire nation soldiers. At the head of them was someone he recognised from his navy days._

 _"Zhao, what are doing here?" he asked._

" _It's Captain Zhao to you Jenko." Zhao said inviting himself into the house. Zirin was on edge like the rest of her family. She felt Mari grab her hand under the table. Her father boldly asked him "Since when were you promoted to Captain?"_

" _Well I suppose not yet, but I will be when I tell Firelord Ozai that I've discovered who was responsible for the death of our beloved Prince Lu Ten."_

" _Why would you think I or my family would want to hear this?"_

" _Because it's the same person responsible for the deaths of your former brother Commander Rasal and his wife Rosi."_

 _Zirin's entire family lightened up at the mention of their deceased relatives, mainly her cousins. But something felt off to Zirin. She didn't like how the man her father called Zhao had come into their home and was now circling him like a buzzard-wasp. But she remained seated and tightened the grip she had on her only sister's hand. Jenko's tone lightened like his face as he asked"Really? Who's the culprit then?"_

" _ **You**_ _are the culprit." Zhao said right to Jenko's face. Jenko was shocked, just like the rest of his family. Zirin's mother got up to join her husband. As she came over, Zhao continued "You had him killed by earthbender bounty hunters posing as soldiers and along with your brother and his wife, the son of General Iroh was killed."_

 _Zirin's mother spoke "My husband would_ _ **never**_ _hurt his brother_ _ **Zhao**_ _!"_

 _Jenko added with his face now fuming "I loved my brother; why exactly would I want him dead?!"_

" _Because you're a coward."Zhao simply stated. "You wanted out of the navy, but couldn't find a proper excuse and didn't want to appear weak, so you came up with an excuse to retire; so you could raise your deceased brother's children as you think he'd want you to have custody over them."_

" _I did_ _ **NOT**_ _have my brother and sister in-law killed!" Jenko said with restrained anger._

 _Zhao sighed "Well, I was hoping you would confess, but since you're refusing..." The group of men outside came in and everyone go up from the table to be prepared for the worst, but nothing could've prepared them for what Zhao announced to his men after his long pause "_ _ **...No one other than us leaves this house alive men... kill them all.**_ _"_

 _Jenko couldn't even react fast enough as Zhao shot a huge amount of fire that blasted right through his chest. His wife screamed and dropped to her knees, crying hysterically as he was blown to the wall and burned. Zhao showed no mercy when he shot the same rage of fire at the mourning wife who crying was now mixed with painful screaming until she screamed and moved no more. The 9 kids screamed and ran about the house for their lives. Zirin grabbed Mari and ran while blocking as many flames of death as possible. As she reached the stairs, she looked back to see 2 men holding a screaming Hacci as a third firebender killed him. She saw another firebender sneak up behind Konni who was fighting 2 others while holding a crying Sedan. Zirin tried to call out to her, but couldn't find a voice and the man brought a knife into her back. When her lifeless body dropped her only brother, the 3 men circled him and began stomping on him until he was silent and covered in blood. Zirin seemed to be in a trance until she heard her name being shouted "ZIRIN!" shouted a tearful Mari as a man ran towards them with a fist of fire. Just in the nick of time, Zirin ducked and side-kicked his face into a large vase that shattered and knocked him unconscious. The sisters ran upstairs and into their room. When they shut the door, all they heard were the screams of Zamih, Tota, Tato and Kettra all at once. Then, their screaming ceased._

 _Zirin and Mari were mortified; their family had been killed right in front of them. Mari covered her mouth with Li in order to muffle her crying while Zirin opened their bedroom window and looked out to see if any soldiers were outside. When she saw none, she went and grabbed Mari. Footsteps were heard and doors were being broken down. Zirin picked Mari up and jumped out of the window, shielding her sister from the ground with her body. She then quickly got up and ran. A soldier who broke into their bedroom looked out the window and called to Zhao behind him "Sir, there they go. We won't be able to catch them."_

 _Zhao's stoic face became a grin of pure heartlessness as he said "We don't need to catch up with them." He looked up to the roof to see the silver sparkling tip of an arrow that Vachir of the former Yuyan archers had readied just in case anyone escaped. Zhao said "Fire on my mark."_

* * *

 _Zirin had tripped over, but saw when she looked back that no one was coming after them. She felt they could walk. She looked at Mari who was still crying; not that Zirin blamed her. She took her sister's hands and made her look up at her. Mari flung her arms around her neck "They're all gone." she said with tears coming down her face._

" _I know." was all Zirin could find herself to say. She then said "But we got away. And we'll go to the authorities and tell them what just happened. We'll get justice for their deaths."_

 _Mari opened her eyes and saw something tiny sparkle on the top of their house. She tensed up a little, but Zirin didn't notice. Mari saw what looked like a hunched figure on the roof with the silver spark. She then panicked when she looked to their bedroom window and saw Zhao staring at them through it. As she saw Zhao's mouth speak a word that looked like "Fire", Mari realised the figure was an archer and that he realised his arrow. Without thinking, Mari shouted "NO!" as she pushed Zirin as hard as she could away in the nick of time, but then, she felt pain._

 _Zirin got up from being pushed and wondered what had happened, but as she sat up and saw Mari, her whole world crumbled when she saw an arrow in Mari's chest. Blood was coming out from the arrow wound and also being coughed up out of the 10 year old's mouth as she choked on it. Zirin dashed forward saying the word "No." over and over. Fresh tears were coming down Zirin's cheeks and dropping down on to the eyes of Mari's doll Li who was being clutched tightly in Mari's hands. Zirin cradled Mari's upper body and slowly rocked her, her mind becoming full of fear of what would happen shortly to Mari and fear of what would happen to herself after this. Zirin didn't know what to say or do and Mari could see that, so she spoke the best she could "You're not invisible Zi- Zirin... try to see that." she said with difficulty from the blood in her mouth._

 _Zirin was sad to hear her sister's dying words and hated seeing her suffer like this, but speaking words like this was all they could do. Zirin said as she stroked her sister's twin braids"You're so brave Mari; just like Uncle and Aunt and Mum and Dad. They'd be proud of you... just like I am... and I couldn't have asked for a better sister." The girls gave sad, tearful smiles._

" _I love you." came the last 3 words from Mari's mouth before the life from her eyes disappeared forever._

* * *

 _Zirin didn't want to believe it. She couldn't. She said her sister's name "MARI?" She gasped at the realisation that the only person who could see the real Zirin was gone forever. She ran her hand slowly down Mari's still cheek and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. Though the kiss had passed, Zirin didn't bring her head up from Mari and cried softly into her. Her mourning distracted her from the danger that was running towards her in the form of her family's killer and his minions. Zhao and his men halted at their leader's hand. He came closer to Zirin with his arms behind his back. He stared at Zirin as if she were nothing. But then, he got too close for Zirin and she released her sister and charged at Zhao and his men with 2 flaring flames behind her "AAAAAAAAAHHH!" she roared as she attacked them, not caring if she died. She surprised herself when she took down most of them. She then saw Zhao just standing completely unfazed by her outburst. She charged at him, ready to bring him down with all her built-up anger and what most people would call vigilante justice, but then 2 pairs of hands grabbed each of her arms and kept her still as she was put in shackles, a muzzle and then a net made from metal chains. Zirin struggled, but couldn't get free, so she was forced to lie there and glare at the killer of her entire family. Zhao grabbed the net near Zirin's neck with one hand and hauled her up as his men went away._

 _Zhao then spoke "Don't worry, we're not going to kill you." Zirin's eyes widened with angered confusion. Zhao then said "After all, Firelord Ozai and I need a scapegoat for all the heinous crimes we committed." Zirin realised what was going on and what he said next confirmed her guess "Or rather,_ _ **you**_ _committed."_

 _Zirin had realised as Zhao sent a large ball of fire with his free hand to her home that Prince Lu Ten had been killed by earthbender bounty hunters, but they weren't hired by her father; they had been hired by Firelord Ozai so he could take his older brother's future place as Firelord. All the crimes that they had committed, they were now going to pin on Zirin and get away with. As Zhao threw her to the ground, she was picked up again by Zhao's men and carried to his ship where she was put in a prison cell. With no one around to see her weak, Zirin silently cried._

* * *

"I must have cried myself to sleep; the next thing I remember was waking up in my cell in the asylum wearing a straitjacket. A doctor came in telling me I had been put in here for killing Prince Lu Ten and my entire family and being in denial of it." Zirin said finishing her story. Azula couldn't find the words to say to someone with a past as tragic as Zirin's. The princess knew her father and Zhao had done terrible things, but nothing compared to learning they conspired to frame an innocent for their murder victims, especially when the victims and scapegoat were of the same nation as them. All Azula could get out was "Zirin, I..."

She couldn't answer as she was unsure of what to say. "I can't believe that happened to you ,you were never even crazy; you should never have been in that asylum in the first place."

"Actually, I kinda thought I was crazy." came Zirin's voice as she looked away from Azula again full of shame. Azula wasn't expecting to hear that "What do you mean?"

"When my family was being killed, I was in shock, but not because I was scared or upset; I was shocked because... because I didn't feel anything... at least not until I lost Mari. I thought that... something was wrong with me. I mean, I didn't even try to help them." Tears were now coming down Zirin's cheeks and her throat was caught "I didn't even try to help any of them; I knew something was wrong when they came into our house, but I didn't say or do anything. I could've tried helping them, but I didn't!" Zirin's voice was now sounding hysterical "I didn't help Hacci break free or speak loud enough to warn Konni; I didn't even attempt to protect Sedan, Zamih or my other cousins! All I did was run! And then I stopped! And I got my sister killed!" Zirin covered her face with her hands and began to cry. Azula instantly pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back as Zirin heaved. When she finally calmed down, the 2 broke apart and Azula asked Zirin "Is that why you didn't tell me?; because you didn't want to recall all that?"

Zirin shook her head "No, I didn't tell you the truth because... when you said that I didn't seem crazy, I felt like you could see the real me. And I thought I could prove Mari was right about me not being invisible. But I was scared if I told you the truth on why I was in the asylum, you'd think I killed my family and you wouldn't want to see me any more."

Azula believed every word Zirin had told her; no one would lie about a story that tragic, even though Azula didn't want to believe it was true and no one could fake the crying she had witnessed Zirin do moments ago. Azula finally knew what to say to her friend "Mari was right; you're not invisible."

Zirin smiled and wiped her cheeks so the tears wouldn't stick. Azula then said as she got up "And now I have 2 things to tell Zuko; what I really wanted to tell him in the crypt and the truth on how Ozai and Zhao came to power."

Zirin looked up to Azula with hope in her eyes. Azula continued when she saw this "You're family deserves justice for what happened to them."

"Thank you Azula." Zirin said, seeming to have finally found peace. Before Azula left, she reminded Zirin on when to leave "Wait 10 more minutes, then go wake up the others so you all can go to Hira'a."

"How long until guards will start checking the ships?"

"Probably after another hour has passed. Why?" Azula said, wondering what Zirin wanted to know that for.

"Look, I'm gonna tell them to wait for another half hour, which should be plenty of time for you to think about coming with us rather than stay here. I mean, you could start over with us."

Azula sighed "Zirin..."

Zirin interrupted her "Look, I know you say your destiny is helping your brother become a better Firelord and I believe you, but I think you deserve a lot more than that. We'll wait 30 more minutes for you to come back, but if you don't, then you don't and I'll accept that. At least think it over."

Azula exhaled through her nose "Okay, I'll think it over, but I doubt I'll change my mind." And with that, Azula gave Zirin a final hug and put her mask and hood on before running out into the final hours of the night and heading to the place she previously called home.

* * *

 **Notes on this chapter in case you missed them:**

 **Ms Yea Rha is Yon Rha's mother/ the mother of the man who killed Katara and Sokka's mother- this is just a made up name I gave her  
The game that Zamih and Kettra were playing is the game Sokka and Aang played in the episode "City of Walls and Secrets"  
Xing Qi isn't the real name of Yon Rha's village- I just made it up as it doesn't have an official name.**


	4. Pashi's confession

**neruchan94: I hope your feels meter has repaired while I was working on this chapter. CAUTION: I'm not positive, but it might break again, so I apologize if it does.**

* * *

Zirin went back to the master bedroom where the others were. She found that Vonna and Pashi were awake on the floor while Shiki was asleep with her head on Vonna's lap and Fenang and Tanni were asleep on the bed. She quietly closed the door to not disturb the sleeping 3 and joined Vonna and Pashi on the floor.

"Has Azula gone?" Pashi asked. Zirin nodded silently, finding it hard to believe that she had left and that that hug might be the last hug she'd receive from Azula. She was pulled out of the thought when Vonna said to Pashi "Guess it's time to put your knowledge of boats to good use darling."

Zirin put her hand on Pashi's shoulder before she could get up "No, we're waiting another half hour before going to Hira'a."

"How come?" Pashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've asked Azula to reconsider coming with us rather than staying here. If she doesn't return in half an hour, then we leave."

Vonna sighed "Great, more ghastly waiting." Pashi just ignored her protest to the idea while Zirin couldn't help herself "You seriously think of waiting as ghastly?"

"You would if you saw it from my perspective darling."

Zirin sighed knowing she wouldn't be able to win with Vonna. Pashi then asked "So besides asking her to come with us, did you and Azula talk about anything else?"

Zirin hesitated for a bit as she was unsure about telling them. Though they were all on the same side and it wasn't like she was being interrogated by those annoyingly calm doctor's in the asylum. She decided to tell them the truth like she had done with Azula "Actually yeah, I told Azula the real reason I was committed to the asylum."

Pashi and Vonna looked to Zirin. She expected them to react similar to how Azula had done, but it felt more awkward with more than one person. Vonna then asked "You weren't put in that loony house because mummy and daddy didn't love you standing out from 8 other brats in their house?"

Zirin ignored her and was about to say the real reason, but Pashi interrupted her by finding the rare nerve to ask Vonna "What is wrong with you?"

Vonna just looked as if she couldn't hear them and scratched the shaved half of her head. Zirin continued when Pashi looked at her "Ex-Fire lord Ozai had his nephew Prince Lu Ten killed by earthbender bounty hunters during the 600 day siege of Ba Sing Se; and in the struggle, my uncle and aunt were killed with him. My father retired from the navy so he could help raise his twin brother's children. Ozai thought that people might find out he hired the bounty hunters so he could become Firelord, so he conspired with former Admiral Zhao to frame my father for the murder; in return, Ozai promoted Zhao from Lieutenant to Captain. When my father refused arrest, Zhao and his men killed him, my entire family, but they didn't kill me; I was a scapegoat for them. They pinned the murders on me and had me committed because I was in denial of the murders."

Pashi's face showed shock and concern "So you were never even crazy in the first place."

"No, but I thought I was because I didn't seem to feel anything until my sister was killed."

Vonna shifted her gaze to Shiki's peaceful sleeping face when she spoke after hearing this tragedy "That's horrible; I'm sorry for your loss."

Zirin and Pashi were both surprised by this reaction;Vonna hadn't even said darling and sounded full of remorse. Zirin sensed the 2 girls along with the 3 who were asleep had more in common than they thought and told the 2 girls another truth "When I told Azula the real reason for being in the asylum, I actually felt at peace for the first time ever since that tragic night."

"What are trying to say darling?" Vonna asked having now gone back to shutting Zirin and others out.

Zirin sucked it in and said "I'm trying to say... I think we all have more in common than we think." She looked to both girls; Vonna was going to great lengths to be distracted by Shiki sleeping on her lap such as stroking her lightly on her shoulder while Pashi just looked away as if afraid of what she was going to say next. Zirin continued "I think we all told the truth about our home life, but we all lied about why we were committed... And I also think that like me, you'd be able to make peace with it if you talked about it."

Vonna covered Shiki's ears with her cupped palms before scoffing at this suggestion "That's nonsense darling... you're starting to sound like those absurdly annoying doctors."

"I... guess that's true in a way, but this is different; we won't be confessing to complete strangers who'll note downwhat we say and do while discussing our issues, it would just be between us." Zirin said trying to reason with Vonna's gift of backfire in conversation. Seeing no avail with Vonna, Zirin thought her attempts were futile, until she heard Pashi's voice saying "You're right about me."

Zirin and Vonna turned to Pashi. Her eyes were looking downwards as she continued her confession "I really am from a fishing family in Jang Hui, I really did gain an expertise on all different kinds of boats including ones that weren't made by the Fire Nation... but I wasn't committed after having a breakdown when my parents died in a boating accident that _**I**_ caused."

"So... what _is_ the real reason?; at least, if you're okay talking about it with us." Zirin said cautiously; she was eager to learn the truth like with Azula, as was Vonna, but if it was a personal tragedy, both girls could understand not wanting to talk to anyone let alone lie in the first place. But Pashi soldiered through her feelings and looked to Zirin as she spoke the truth "My reason is kind of like _**your**_ reason Zirin."

After letting that sink in, Pashi then confessed "The main difference however, is no one was killed so Commander Chan could become Admiral Chan... my parents just think I was killed."

* * *

 _6 years ago:_

 _Pashi was 19 and steering the ship to the docks of Jang Hui, which had been her home ever since she was born. She had been steering for a couple of days now and was heading to Jang Hui as it was the closest landpoint in the sea until they made it to near where an earth kingdom ships were located that protected Ba Sing Se and they had run out of food supplies. After exiting the ship, she began walking to where her parents worked_ _ _with her helmet underneath her arm_ until she stopped when she saw Dock. Or Xu or Bushi; he had at least 3 personas inside him and he claimed the other 2 were his brothers. Like the rest of Jang Hui's citizens, she went along with it as she greeted him "Hello Dock."_

 _He smiled at her greeting "Hello Pashi." Pashi had known him since she was little. He was the employer of her parents and had also given Pashi boat steering lessons as she had always enjoyed being on the water. She felt that she owed her entire career to him and actually didn't mind his split personalities . She saw her parents struggling with the nets of fish they had caught and said to Dock "I'm not going to be here long Dock; could you say hello to Xu and Bushi for me?"_

" _Of course I can!" he said with joy and then quickly jogged off to most likely change into his Xu and Bushi hats. Pashi's father was a thin tanned man with his brown hair in a short pony tail and also had a thin moustache. Her mother was also thin, but had pale skin and darker brown hair than her husband. As her father walked away to get another net, Pashi came up to her mother "Hi mother."_

" _Ah!" was what came out of her startled mother as she and the net of fish almost fell into the water, but both of which were grabbed and pulled up by her daughter. After catching her breath, the woman said "Agni Pashi, I swear you're more quieter than a Two-headed Rat Viper."_

 _Pashi couldn't help but smile and giggle "My apologies mother." She heard her name being called by her father, who gave her a hug along with her mum._

" _How is your new career as steering Commander Chan's lead ship?" he asked._

 _Before she could delve into that, Dock rushed up to them in his Xu hat and said "Hello Pashi! It's me, Xu! Dock said I would find you here, but I almost didn't believe him. You know how craaazy he can be!"_

 _Pashi's parents couldn't understand how their daughter could put up with the split personalities, but they didn't discourage on that as she hugged him "It's good to see you after all this time Xu... I'm happy to see you as well as Dock, but it's a shame I won't get to say hello to Bushi."_

" _But of course you'll get to say hello to him!" he announced before taking off his Xu hat and putting on his Bushi hat "Hello, it's me! Bushi!"_

 _Pashi giggled in her head "Well who else would you be; Xu or Dock?"_

" _Ha! Exactly, how mad is that?" Bushi said pulling Pashi into a hug while her parents couldn't understand how he did it. After he left, she turned back to her parents to answer her father's question "To answer your question father, it's... not so bad; I would probably like it more if my opinion mattered on the ship." Pashi said thinking of her new job. Commander Chan was in charge of a division in the fire nation's eastern fleet and Pashi new job was steering his lead ship. But despite her impeccable knowledge of all kinds of boats, no one allowed her to share her opinion when discussing battle tactics._

 _Her mother shook her head sideways in agreement with her daughter "I think all those big muscly men are afraid that a 19 year old girl like yourself could easily take over."_

" _I could not agree with you more mother." Pashi sighed "Hopefully, I'll be transferred to a different ship; and hopefully it'll be one with at least one other girl on the ship."_

" _Well on the bright side, at least with your boat-steering career, you smell more like the ocean than..." she held up a bunch of one-headed and two-headed fish she had picked up from the net"... fish."_

 _Pashi smiled; that was indeed one thing she didn't miss while sailing the open waters. She assisted her parents with the fishing until it was time for her to depart. She said her goodbyes and made her way to the control room and grabbed the wheel ready to set sail. However, she sniffed something in the air and recognised it from growing up in Jang Hui; a storm was coming from the same direction they were heading to and if she was correct, it will be a very bad one. As she pondered on what to do next, Commander Chan came in and up to her and demanded to know "Why haven't we set off yet?"_

 _"Sir, I don't think we'll need to; there's a bad storm that's going to occur in Ba Sing Se's direction."_

 _The Commander looked out to what appeared to be clear blue skies for miles with not even a little trace of grey clouds. He turned back to her and asked "What could possibly make you think that there's going to be a storm on a perfectly good day like this?"_

 _"The smell of thunderclouds in the air." Pashi stated as if it was the most normal thing to say. Chan raised an eyebrow and then overly inhaled before saying "Then your nose is as deluded as your mind; I can't smell anything."_

 _"That's because you didn't live in Jang Hui like I did; I can tell if there's going to be a storm and where it will come from."_

 _"There **IS NO STORM coming**." Chan said looking down to her face. "Now get this ship moving or we'll miss out on an opportunity to take the patrol by surprise."_

 _"They'll already be taken by surprise by the storm that is without a doubt, **definetely** going to happen." Pashi argued back. She knew she was right about a coming storm; she had been so far. When growing up in Jang Hui, she could tell when storms were coming by involuntarily smelling changes in the air and wind and also knew how bad they would be and if it would be safe to go out fishing. She wasn't about to let the Commander's arrogance force her to steer a ship into certain doom for everyone onboard. But her plans changed when he said "Everyone on this ship is willing to die for their nation if it means we'll be able to take out Ba Sing Se's water patrol; everyone but you apparantly. We're going and we're not changing our plans because of your ridiculous theory." Pashi could see that she wouldn't be able to change the Commander's mind and that probably meant the rest of the crew wouldn't listen to her either. Perhaps she couldn't save them, but she could save herself. She knew there were others on the ship who could steer it if she left. And if she was correct, the storm would be strong enough to wipe out this entire crew including Commander Chan and then she would be transferred to another boat. So, she stepped back and glared at him while placing her helmet down "Then my apologies **commander,** but you'll have to find someone else to steer this ship into a suicide trap... because **I won't**."_

 _She turned around and started walking away, planning to go back to her parents and tell them about the storm as well as being somewhere warm and cosy when the storm hit, but the only thing that hit Pashi was her own helmet on the back of her head that caused her to black out._

* * *

"After Chan knocked me out, I woke up in the asylum and he told me how he stole my suggestion of waiting til the storm passed and because of that, he was promoted to Admiral after taking out the shorter fleet when the storm passed." Pashi said coming to near the end of her story, her voice first full of anger and vengance. "I don't know how he did it, but Chan somehow convinced the staff at the asylum that I had a breakdown after witnessing my parents die on a boat that I was steering."

"Why didn't you say anything to the staff about Chan and how he deceived them darling?" Vonna asked not getting how Pashi could've been stuck in that nuthouse and the doctors not think she was crazy for 6 years. Pashi was now looking down at her crossed legs as she said "Because he threatened my parents."

Vonna and Zirin continued to feel the shock run through their veins. Vonna had now stood up cradling Shiki in her arms and was placing her in between Fenang and Tanni who were as still as a pane glass window. Vonna decided to remain standing near the bed while Pashi looked to Zirin and explained herself "Chan told me to go through with an insanity plea and the story he had concocted or he'd kill my parents. It's why I didn't say anything sooner." Zirin saw that Pashi was finding it harder to continue speaking about her past, so she finshed her sentence for her.

"Because you feared he'd find out about your escape and have your parents killed."

"Yes." Pashi said after a deep sigh. Her expression then hardened when she said "If he's hurt them, he'll regret it." Zirin saw the hate in Pashi's eyes and it almost scared her; she swore for a split second that her eyes had fire in them. Zirin then said "I'm guessing... Chan went back to Jang Hui and told them you were killed in the attack."

Pashi now looked as if she was about to cry, but she pushed through her pain and said "That's exactly what he did; so they wouldn't come looking for me... and it worked." Her voice began to grow a small croak in it with the last 3 words she said. An idea came to Zirin's head "You know Pashi, if you want, we could go to Jang Hui so you could see your parents." Pashi shook her head "No... I don't think I could face them after everything I've been through; not to mention what _we_ did tonight."

Zirin was surprised at her response of not wanting to go other than her being right about them kidnapping around a dozen children, but they weren't harmed and were all currently home now and Zirin believed Pashi was still gripped bythe fear of what Chan would do to her family, so tried to reason with her the same way Pashi had tried to reason with Chan all those years ago; hopefully, Zirin's attempts would neither be in vain nor result with her being hit on the back of her head "Pashi, if I could see my parents, my siblings and my cousins again for even a small moment and they knew what I had done tonight, I would do so. Nobody wants to believe their family is gone forever. And no parent wants to believe their child is gone. If they saw you after all this time, they'd be so happy. I mean, what parent wouldn't be so happy to see a child who they thought was dead?"

Sobbing interrupted Zirin, but it wasn't coming from Pashi; the two turned to see Vonna sobbing with her hands over her mouth that slowly moved to cover her entire face as she shook down to her knees and cried. Despite her efforts to be quiet, her crying had awakened Shiki, Tanni and Fenang. Tanni was the first to ask in a sleepy voice "What's going on?"

Vonna left the room as quickly as she could. Pashi went after her while Zirin stayed behind wondering if something she had said had set Vonna off; her thoughts made her deaf to Tanni asking her what had happened. She finally regained her hearing when Fenang shook her shoulder lightly, who was then pushed away by Shiki who repeated Tanni's question "What happened?"

Zirin was at a loss for words. She felt guilt building in her throat and it clogged her ability to speak until she could only think of 3 words to say to the girls "I don't know."

* * *

While drama unfolded on the ship that she had left in the care of her sisters, Azula had stopped on her journey to the palace as she had spotted Mai's new boyfriend Ko Lei or Ke Lio or something riduculous sounding. She wondered not only what could Mai possibly see in that patsy, but why he wasn't with Mai and decided to let her curiousity take over and followed him.

* * *

 **Notes about this chapter in case you missed them:**

 **Commander Chan who later becomes Admiral Chan is the** **father** **of Chan from the episode "The Beach"  
Pashi's past happens before the factory was put in near the village of Jang Hui in the episode "The Painted Lady"**


	5. Shiki's confession part 1

While Pashi went after Vonna, Zirin explained to Fenang, Tanni and Shiki what had happened while they were asleep. She told them about her past and Pashi's as well.

"How on earth did we sleep through all that talking you 3 have been doing?" Tanni asked.

Zirin shrugged "I have no idea myself Tanni; my best guess is you guys are heavy sleepers."

Fenang, like she always seems to do, brought them back to their original topic by asking "How come Vonna was crying?"

"I really don't know Fenang, but it-it must have something I said when trying to convince Pashi to see her parents again."

"I... might know what made Vonna upset..." came Shiki's quiet voice. No one expected Vonna to have shared her past with anyone. Vonna hardly shared anything with them at all; she was the only one of them besides Azula to not even give a fake story on why she was committed;but the difference beween Azula and Vonna is that Azula told her story whereas Vonna didn't share even the slightest of detail. The princess herself had admitted that Vonna was even more hostile and untrusting to people than she was. But Vonna did seem to have a soft spot for Shiki. The others believed it was because Shiki was only 13 and still technically a child and that Vonna believed she could trust Shiki to not betray her words to even her new allies. Also, the 2 of them were both in the maximum security wing in the asylum, so they most likely bonded in there. Shiki continued "... but it depends on what it is you said."

Zirin went over what she said, not missing out any details that could be vital for Shiki to figure out why Vonna became so upset "I said if I could see my family again for a moment, I would; no one wants to believe their family's dead especially regarding a parent who thinks their child has been dead for years."

Shiki suddenly sat down with closed-mouth horror as she said "Oh."

"What is it? Do you not know?"

"I do, but I can't exactly tell you; Vonna swore me to secrecy. Also, it should be her who tells you."

"No, it's okay. You're right Shiki; it should be Vonna who confesses." Zirin said putting a hand on her shoulder. If Vonna was to heal, then she had to be the one to admit it, but they wouldn't push her to confess; they'd wait until she was ready. Fenang had an idea "Did Vonna at least tell you a fake story about being committed before the real reason?"

"Well yeah, but it's obviously fake." Shiki said.

"Why? What did she tell you?" Tanni asked. The 3 tall girls sat down around the smallest and youngest of their group. She sat down with them and told them "Okay well, Vonna at first told me that every time there's a half moon out at night, she's possessed by a spirit named Erip Mav."

"Erip Mav?" the 3 girls asked at the same time.

Shiki just continued "Yeah, doesn't get much lamer than that. Only it does; Vonna says that Erip Mav is a spirit who possesses the scariest person in his home village so he can quench his eternal thirst for human blood. And the scariest person in his village in this case was Vonna. But I don't know the whole story on it; only Vonna does."

"Okay, even _**I**_ know that there is no such thing as a spirit named Erip Mav." Tanni said.

"Yeah, do we even have to degrade ourselves by saying what Erip Mav is backwards for?" Fenang asked.

Shiki shook her head "Nah, it's pretty obvious once you take the time to think about it."

Zirin agreed "Yeah... but maybe there is some truth in her fake story; maybe she felt feared by her village or something."

"Guess that would explain how she came up with that story so quickly." Shiki said. When Vonna first told her the fake story, she knew that Erip Mav wasn't a real spirit. But other than that, everything sounded true after she said she was the most feared person in her village. Now Shiki knew why she was close to believing it. Fenang then asked her a question "Hey Shiki, how come you know Vonna's real reason for being committed anyway?"

"She... told me after I told her my reason for being in the asylum, I didn't even bother trying to hide it. Don't know why though."

"Really?" Zirin asked, surprised at this as she figured that everyone of them had exaggerated the truth in some way like Pashi, Vonna and herself had done so far... unless Shiki had indeed told Vonna the truth, but had left out some vital parts out as she feared something that would happen if someone knew.

"You sure you didn't keep anything out?"

Shiki then gave a light blush "Oh... you worked that out."

Zirin further asked the youngest member of their group "Do you think you'd be able to tell us your reason, including the parts you didn't tell Vonna?"

Shiki didn't answer. Zirin was starting to see Vonna in the child; both of them seemed to poorly distract themselves when they didn't want to talk about something. Tanni decided to step in and give Zirin a break "How about for now, you tell us exactly what you told Vonna?"

Shiki sighed, thinking the girls would continue to push until they got an answer. But she did like Tanni suggesting to say the story she had told Vonna, so she nodded to her and said "Alright, I'll confess what I can, but not what I can't... at least not yet anyway."

* * *

 _4 years ago:_

 _"Shiki!" called a strict woman's voice. She was a tall woman named Eris who looked to be in her early 40's. She had her dark grey hair in a tight high bun, a long-sleeved dark grey tunic with red hems and was carrying a long thin stick in her hand. She continued to walk past the 2 lines of small girls at her sides who were trying to remain standing straight and not whimper in fear. One small face however didn't whimper. In fact, this face didn't show any emotion ever or even make a single sound at all since being in the orphanage or her previous orphanages. That face belonged to 9 year old Shiki, who stepped out of line when Eris called her name. The woman came up to the 9 year old and forced her to look up with her stick when the child's head remained looking at nothing in particular on the ground. She then spoke "Do you know that the fruit tarts from the kitchen for grown-ups are missing?"_

 _Shiki nodded her head to say "Yes" to the question._

 _"And was it you who ate them?"_

 _Shiki shook her head to say "No". Not that it would matter; Eris would ask her to bend over so she could punish her for taking fruit tarts that were actually stolen by the older kids at the orphanage. But none of the other kids said anything because they didn't want to get beaten up by the older kids when the grown ups weren't looking and Shiki didn't speak because... well no one knew why; she had never made a single sound in her life. Her first orphanage said she must have been born mute and the others said she was a trouble maker. They claimed she took extra food, made messes on purpose and started fights. So of course Eris would assume she is the culprit. She said "I don't believe you; bend over your bed."_

 _Shiki walked over to her bed with Eris following her and bent over it without showing any defiance in doing so. The other kids watched as the woman raised the stick high in the air and then brought it down with full force until it made contact with Shiki's bottom. She repeated this action 19 more times. Every time the stick made contact, the other children jumped and shut their eyes; some having to cover their eyes with their hands until it was over. But Shiki didn't; she just stared out a window and watched the drizzly rain fall down from the starless sky, not even flinching a little from the surprise of being hit with a stick that stung worse than a moth wasp. After she had finished, Eris then said outloud "Light's out!"_

 _The children rushed to their beds with the same thought in their heads; how does Shiki not cry out every time she gets punished? The 9 year old knew that they thought this and she didn't blame them. The beatings did in fact hurt her just like they hurt everyone else who had recieved the stick. But Shiki didn't cry even once. She had never even tried to speak and she wasn't sure if she could. But she didn't want to speak. As she lay on top of her bed covers with her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling, she recalled many main events from her life._

* * *

 _When she was old enough to understand speech, she was told that as a baby, she had been abandoned by her parents and that she had been very silent and only made noise when she was upset. After learning she was abandoned by her own parents who didn't even get to know her, Shiki never made any noises and never attempted to, not even when she was alone. Starting from around being in her 4th orphanage when she was 3, counsellers were brought in to see if they could coax words from her mouth, but they were unsuccessful as Shiki refused to engage with any of them no matter what tactics they used and she was too clever for any of their ways of tricking her into talking. She would only react when they told her the session was over and all she did was get up from her seat and go to her bed and lie exactly how she was currently lying on her bed. In her 7th orphanage at the age of 5, older kids began to torment and bully Shiki anyway they could as they found her strange for refusing to speak and whenever they stole extra food or made a mess, they were able to pin it on the girl who never speaks. One day a girl named Lyza, who 6 year old Shiki detested more than anyone else, pushed her to the hard wooden ground and said "You're a weirdo; no wonder you haven't been adopted. And you never will be." In response, Shiki got up and stared up at her with cross eyebrows. But Lyza didn't take her for a threat. She would find that to be a mistake along with Lyza calling her friends over as when they did, Shiki aimed her tiny fist for Lyza's jaw. She cried out in pain and her friends became afraid too when they saw blood coming out of her mouth. Shiki was proud of that punch and the fear she had put in those other girls who backed away from her and huddled together for protection. As she looked at them and then back at Lyza who was still in pain and crying, a victorious smile grew on her face. It was worth no meals for the rest of the day after the girls told the head of the orphanage everything other than the real reason why Shiki lashed out. Shiki didn't even feel hungry that evening. The next day, she was sent to her 8th orphanage and then 3 orphanages later, she ended up in the one she was currently in right now. It was a strict girl's only home and the last orphanage left in the fire nation for Shiki. She had been in it for only a month and had gotten more beatings than she could count, but she put up with them for if this one couldn't handle her, then she will have been to and kicked out of all 11 orphanages in the Fire Nation and what will happen to her next; she wasn't sure. After thinking about her whole life so far, she finally shut her eyes in attempt to sleep._

* * *

 _The next day, it was after breakfast was served and Shiki had gone back up to her bed to read her favourite storybook "The Ugly Turtle-duckling." It was a book from her second orphanage and she loved the book so much, she decided to "liberate" it with her every time she moved to a new orphanage. As she saw the picure of the ugly turtle-duckling, who was actually revealed to be an eel swan in the end, with his eel swan family, she began to think about the one question that had tormented her her entire life; Why did my parents abandon me? She desperately wanted to know the reason why 2 people would give away their own child as a baby. At the time of her early youth, she had hoped that they would come back for her, but no one came who claimed that they had left a baby girl at the orphanage. She hoped that there was a reason that didn't make them sound like the heartless turtle-ducks in the fairytale, but eventually, she accepted the cold harsh reality that they just didn't want her and that was it. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if there was a family out in the Fire Nation that would happily accept an ugly turtle-duckling who didn't try to pretend to be an eel swan like other orphans do._

 _"I somehow knew you'd still be in an orphanage bedroom somewhere." came a voice that interrupted Shiki's thoughts and filled her with anger as she recognised it from orphanage number 7. She lifted her head while hoping that there was something wrong with either her ears or the memory part of her brain, but both were spot on. Standing in the doorway with a smirk was the now 13 year old Lyza and a group of 5 other girls around her age, 2 of them who Shiki recognised as the actual thieves of the fruit tarts from last night. Lyza seemed taller than Shiki last remembered, but that didn't change that she could easily be beaten down. Only if she did, she would be reported and she would be sent to who knows where if Eris found out. So she'd have to try to resist the tempting urge to break something in Lyza for now so the girls couldn't make anything up. Lyza continued talking "But seeing you in this orphanage is just a bonus for me."_

 _Shiki raised an eyebrow. Why on earth is that a bonus for her? She figured she was just trying to big herself up to the 5 girls with her, so Shiki turned her head away back to her book and turned it back to the beginning. Lyza continued "I feel that this is the perfect opportunity to get revenge for what you did to me." Shiki continued to read her book. Lyza's threats were empty and she was just trying to coax her into doing something that she'd regret. Lyza was getting furious that Shiki wasn't paying her any attention, so she then said the one thing that she knew would get on the nerves of any orphan "And I thought I'd start off by looking in your personal file. Shiki looked up to see Lyza waving a brown file in the air. She shouldn't be allowed access to that; she must have somehow found a way to have taken it from Eris' office. She opened it and read outloud to the girls "And after all this time, I finally get why you're so weird; you were abandoned by your **own parents** as a **newborn baby**."  
_

 _The girls laughed with her at Shiki. She wanted to hit not just Lyza, but all of them in the face until she saw blood, but she would get a harsher punishment from Eris if she did. All she could do was turn her head back to her book and clench the front and back cover tightly in order to channel her anger. The girls then walked up to her bed and started saying that they were Shiki and saying that she was a parentless weirdo, but Shiki continued to read without looking at them. What finally did it was when Lyza pushed the book out of her tight grasp and to the floor. Another girl picked it up and went "Ha, you read baby books!"_

 _"HA HA! YOU READ BABY BOOKS! YOU READ BABY BOOKS!" they all chanted in a song. But they were going to regret that. Lyza had brought her own downfall by pushing that book out of Shiki's hands. That was all she had to control her anger. Now, it began to boil again and flow from her tiny fists to hre arms, then her mind and back down to her stomach. It was in her; the firey rage of vengance was literally in her. She felt it. It was warm and becoming burning hot. She couldn't take the insults no more. She brought her flaming fist to Lyza's left temple and after she saw it was red on the screaming girl, she looked at her fist and saw fire. She then smiled and began throwing punches at the girls who were running away. Fire shot from her fists and soared to the bullies like mini comets. Shiki then knew that she was no weirdo. She was a firebender._

 _Then, her smile vanished when a woman came rushing to see what had happened. It was Eris. She put out the flames and then shouted at the top of her voice " **SHIKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"**_

* * *

"Eris then recommended that I be put in an asylum's maximum security wing after that. None of the other orphanages would take me back and my first one had been torn down a while ago to make that statue of Ozai in Fire Fountain City."

"I can't believe that woman put you in an asylum just for you firebending for the first time in your life!" Tanni exclaimed while crossing her arms.

"Yeah, especially after **_she_** was able to put the flames out." Fenang said in agreement.

Shiki looked away from their faces and wondered how she could tell them what else had happened. She didn't know. But she did know the longer she put it off, the worse it would be when she confessed the one detail she was leaving out of her past. Zirin saw her face and guessed that she must have actually done something bad; otherwise she wouldn't keep it to herself, but she didn't say anything about that to Fenang and Tanni as the girls would probably push her to confess and the trust would be gone between them all. Before silence could last for longer, the door opened and Pashi and Vonna walked in. Pashi looked mortified. Zirin stood up and placed her hands on Pashi's shoulders while Vonna went and sat down next to Shiki.

"Pashi, you look like you've seen a ghost, what's wrong?" Zirin asked.

"I told her my story." came Vonna's low voice that that apparantley dropped the arrogance. Zirin was surprised that Vonna had told Pashi whatever reason she had for being in the asylum and turned her head to face her; the 31 year old had dried-up tear stains on her cheeks and wiped them away with her cloak as quick as she could when she saw that Zirin had spotted them. She then said "I hate to admit this Zirin darling, but you were right... it helped a little to talk about my past with someone other than a complete stranger who insists you be a in straitjacket for the full session."

Zirin resisted the urge to sarcastically sigh at Vonna and then said "Sorry I upset you before."

"It's okay darling, you didn't know..." She then looked to the 3 other faces who didn't know "... none of you did as a matter of fact."

"If you want to wait a while to tell us, you can do." Zirin said with guilt still in her mind.

"No, if I hold it in for too long, it'll only get worse. It's best if I confess now." Vonna said unaware that her words had just ridden Shiki with guilt and worry.

* * *

After what she had heard from Kei Lo, Azula now had more and more to tell Zuko and she would find that she would have more to say when she was on the roof of Mai's Aunt Mura's flower shop. She saw in the window Mai sat beside a sleeping Tom-Tom. Azula wondered where was this protective big sister back in Omashu? Then again, that was when they were 'friends' and before Mai betrayed her for Zuko. As she continued to observe, she saw that Mai was looking at a picture in her hand and appeared as if she was about to cry, but no tears shed from her eyes. She began to fall asleep and Azula had to know what the image was, so she snuck in to investigate.

"Azula!" came Michi's voice.

* * *

 **You're probably wondering why I'm skipping over the Azula side story. Well, if you recall from the first chapter, I said that there would be a sequel to this story. The sequel will cover what Azula was doing while the remaining Fire Warriors bond over their pasts and overcome their issues together.**


	6. Vonna's confession part 1

**Sorry for not updating this story for a while; I've been working on another fanfic as well as adding to an old one. But here's Chapter 6.**

* * *

"Are you sure you're ready to tell us the rest of us your story Vonna?" Zirin asked unable to shake off the feeling that although Vonna had told Shiki and now Pashi her story, she might not be able to repeat it in order to tell the rest of them. Also, based on Pashi's mortified expression, Zirin was unsure if they would even want to hear it. As she wondered if it would be anything close to losing your entire family in 1 night, Tanni nodded with Zirin's statement "She's right, you can wait to tell us if you want to."

"Honestly darlings, I'm fine to tell it... well, as fine as you can get anyway." Vonna said.

"Let me ask this then." Fenang interjected with a raised hand in order to be able to speak her mind "How come you only told Shiki your true story until now?"

Vonna's pupils looked down as she spoke "Well, when Shiki told me her story, I realised how similar we were and I thought she could handle the truth."

Zirin, Tanni, Pashi and Fenang looked to one another. Once they stopped, Fenang asked "Similar how?"

"Both of us never knew our parents; they abandoned us as infants to the care of orphanages where we were treated as if we were freaks to the other orphans and never got adopted."

There was uncomfortable silence. Vonna allowed this to sink in as she knew they weren't expecting her to be an orphan. She once overheard Fenang and Pashi discussing that Vonna's posh accent meant she must've come from a rich family. But she didn't. All she knew about her parents was that her mother was a young teenager that didn't want her and her father's identity would remain a mystery, so they sold her to an orphanage. That's right, sold. Vonna couldn't believe that either, but compared to Shiki, her life as an orphan wasn't so bad. And being an orphan wasn't the only thing about Vonna that was going to mortify Zirin, Tanni and Fenang tonight.

"But the difference between us is my life as an orphan wasn't that bad. I had one friend in my orphanage; he later became my husband." While the girls tried to grip the truth mentally, Vonna recalled her husband when he was her boyfriend.

* * *

 _16 years ago:_

 _The sun was rising and 15 year old Vonna eagerly awoke from her bumpy bed. Not just because the mattress gave her back a painful stiffness, but because she was thrilled that she would never have to sleep on it again. She quietly got dressed into a red sleeveless tunic with black hems and matching red pants and shoes. She then crouched down and pulled a large pink bag out from under her bed. She opened it up to check what was in it. After seeing the spare clothes, the small sack of coins, the snacks, hairbrush and firebending scrolls, Vonna grabbed the brush, then closed it up and went into the bathroom. She looked into the mirror to see her half shaved and half red-dyed hair that flowed downwards. She used the brush to bring her hair up and not look a mess. After finishing, she recalled when she first had her hair like this. At age 11, she was playing Truth or Dare with some other kids and she was dared to do something unexpected and crazy. The first thing that came into her mind was shaving the left side of her head and dying the right side a different colour opposed to her natural jet black colour. But after showing them what she did, they mocked her and laughed at her ever since. But she didn't care; she actually liked how it looked; as did one other person. He even said it made her look stunningly beautiful and that was when she and he had their first kiss. Vonna then exited the bathroom with a smile on her light tan-coloured face while putting the brush in the bag and left the girl's dormitory or good, completely unaware of the 3 other empty beds besides her own._

 _Vonna walked down a couple of corridors until she reached the entrance of the orphanage and there he was leaning against one of the door's beams; the boy who had been her only friend for the past 16 years and her boyfriend for the previous 5, the boy who loved her unique hairstyle, the boy who she had her first kiss with and the boy she was about to run away with_ _._

 _Senko._

 _He was a boy older than her by around 8 months. Like Vonna, he too was abandoned as an infant by a teenage parent; the story he was told was that his mother abandoned him to his father and his father then abandoned him to here. He had light skin, light brown spiked up hair with blonde dye at the tips near the front and olive green eyes. He was dressed in a black vest-like top with a red stripe going diagonally right. On that stripe just below his shoulder was a black fire insignia. His light brown pants sadly didn't go with his top, but he didn't mind and nor did Vonna. Growing up, the 2 of them were close. Vonna at first thought it was a brother-sister bond they shared, but the truth was they both felt more than that, but thought it would be weird as they saw most orphans with sibling bonds and never romantic bonds. When they had their first kiss, it didn't feel weird as they had imagined; it felt right. After that kiss, he confessed something to her; the reason they were always transferred to the same orphanages and never separated was because he snuck into the head's office and made sure their names were on the same transfer sheets because he didn't want to be without her. Coming back into reality, he asked in a hushed voice "You ready?"_

 _"I've been ready since last night." she replied before giving him a quick kiss on the lips to which he kissed back before opening the doors "Let's go."_

 _But as they were about to step outside into the light, they saw what they percieved to be an ugly sight. Outside were the 3 girls who relentlessly bullied Vonna mainly because they liked Senko, but he turned them down in favour of a "Freak" as they so nicely ref_ _erred to her as. Their names were Yanu, Laa and Kaalo. Each of the 3 girls played a role in the trio; Yanu was the brute, Kaalo was the insulter and Laa was the leader and the brains. They had matching red outfits, matching buns in their brunette hair and matching smiles that made them look like sociopaths. Vonna swore the 3 of them were non-identical triplets and their parents were criminals who were so violent that they weren't allowed to raise them, but apparently, the criminal ran through their blood. Kaalo stepped forward "Looks like I was right girls, I **did** overhear that Senko's running off with the **freak**."_

 _Vonna's right hand was on the strap of the bag. She clenched it tighter in attempt to control her anger as Laa gave a "Ha Ha" laugh while Yanu's laugh was more "Huh Huh". She calmed herself further by reminding herself that she could easily beat the 3 of them in a fight as she was a firebender in training and the 3 of them were non-benders with no formal training whatsoever. All the fighting they had were Yanu's punches that didn't require firebending to be deflected._

 _"What are you 3 doing here?" Senko asked annoyed of their constant, what felt like to him, stalking._

 _"We could ask you the same!" Yanu said in attempt to retaliate like her friends did, only for Senko and Vonna to just stare at her with bored expressions. Vonna then said "Er, I'm more than positive your friend just said what we're doing here."_

 _Kaalo turned her head to Yanu. Senko and Vonna couldn't see what she was doing, but they faintly heard her whisper harshly **"Let me and Laa doing the talking!"**_

 _Yanu nodded her head slightly, possibly to seem like she wasn't nodding. Kaalo then turned her head back to the pair as Laa said "To answer your question Senko, we're here to stop you from making a big mistake."_

 _Senko put a hand on his forehead and gave an "Ugh." Vonna understood why; they gave him a headache as they always flirted with him and wouldn't leave him alone. If he and Vonna ever got so much as 10 seconds alone, it would always be treasured as it was incredibly rare to get. Senko then sarcastically asked "And what mistake would that be?"_

 _Laa looked stunned, but not on purpose."Um, running off with **her,** of **course.** " she answered while gesturing her open left palm out to Vonna. Senko's voice remained as passive as usual; Vonna admired him for being able to do that as it would be impossible for her to talk to the trio in a civilised manner "I'm not making any mistakes; this could only be classed as a mistake if I was running off with one of **you 3**." he said gesturing to them with his head. Vonna found it hard to hold back a snort of derision as some of it escaped her mouth. Kaalo then said suspiciously calmly "You know what ladies, I think we should let them leave; we won't be able to stop them."_

 _Laa and Yanu were taken back by this, but Vonna and Senko weren't fooled by this; they didn't say, but they both knew she was about to insult Vonna and they were right as Kaalo took a step forward to Vonna and said while softly resting a hand lightly on her left shoulder "Here's some last advice Vonna: you might want to get a new wig as the one you're currently wearing isn't helping to cover your ugly bald head."_

 _Laughter burst from all 3 girls. Yanu was laughing so hard that she looked as if she would fall on her back and roll left to right laughing. Vonna longed to smash Kaalo's mouth to the point where the girl could never insult anyone ever again. She realised the girl's hand was still on her shoulder and couldn't control herself for any longer. Releasing the bag strap, she roughly pushed the girl by her collarbone so hard that she fell screaming into the other girls who joined her falling into a large mud puddle that was behind them. As the girls were ewwing at themselves and looking like babies going to the toilet in their diapers, Vonna and Senko smiled as they recalled the rain from last night that prevented them from leaving sooner. They weren't happy with the rain at first, but Senko raised his fists into the air and looked up to he sun as he shouted "THANK! YOU! RAIN!"_

 _Vonna then panicked a little; though what he said was appropriate-sounding, it may have been loud enough to wake up the head of the orphanage. She grabbed Senko's right arm down and said "Let's go Senko!" in a hushed tone. The 2 of them leaped over the mud puddle the girls were still in and ran with Vonna still holding Senko's arm. They heard the distant commotion and refused to turn around and decrease their chances of getting to Harbour City undetected. They finally made it to a boat, were finally free and finally heading to start a new and happy life together._

* * *

"It seemed like we were never going to have anymore problems in life; I still find it hard to believe that that life with my husband existed. He proposed to me the moment we moved into our new home and we got married a week later." Vonna concluded with a sad smile while the girls couldn't believe that this happened in Vonna's past. Everything seemed to have a happy turnout; so how could she have ended up in a mental asylum? As Vonna looked up to see the girl's expressions, she knew what they were thinking "You're all wondering how those events could've happened in my life, right?"

Zirin, Tanni and Fenang nodded in union while Pashi and Shiki looked to the ground as they were trying to prevent tears from coming from their eyes. It worked even though they wanted to shed a few, but they couldn't. All they could do was feel heir throats clog up with the knowledge of how Vonna was committed. Fenang couldn't remain silent; she asked the question on everyone's mind "If you had wonderful memories like that and escaped a terrible life to be married to your soul mate, what did you do that got you locked up in a mental asylum?"

Vonna stared at the girls, dropping her posh accent and said in a voice the girls not only didn't recognise, but made the hairs on the back of their necks stand up "I killed the people who not only _**killed my husband...**_ but also _kidnapped_... **my infant daughter**."


	7. Vonna's confession part 2

_2 years after escaping their dreaded orphanage and the terror trio that consisted of 3 girls they had completely erased from their minds, Vonna and Senko lived in the village of Hun Li. It was a village with an apparent moon monster in it. Every full moon, people disappeared if they were outside at night and because of it always being on a full moon, the townspeople were saying that they were being abducted by a monster dubbed as the moon monster. To avoid the chance of being its next victims, Senko and Vonna built a log cabin on the other side of a forest to live in as they believed the abductions were only occurring in the town. They did feel safer when they moved out of their apartment, but it wasn't just the missing people stories that drove the married couple to move out of the town; nearly everyone in town was afraid of Vonna and they often heard not so silent talk when in town about her being the so called moon monster and that she had killed the abducted and washed her hair in their blood and that was why it looked red. They would've gone somewhere else, but they decided that that was the coward's choice and they chose to stay to prove that they weren't what everyone thought._

 _It is currently late afternoon and Vonna was_ _in her cosy wooden home boiling some water in a kettle for some Jasmine tea. As she poured the boiled water into 2 cups, she heard the sound of the front door opening and closing and then footsteps coming her way. A strong left arm went around her waist and spun her around to face who had walked in._

 _"Hey gorgeous." said her now husband Senko with a smile. Vonna gave a soft laugh before the 2 leaned in for a passionate kiss. When they broke apart, Vonna turned around to grab the 2 cups of tea while Senko walked to the left of the kitchen and opened the door that lead to their pantry. Vonna now realised he had 2 sacks with him making the sound of cash instead of 1 as he emptied them into a giant safe. She came over and said "Okay, I **was** going to ask "How was work today?" but I think the answer to that's clear enough."_

 _Senko stood up and held out his hand for his tea "I got a raise and there was also a competition to make the best ornament out of wood in an hour. There would then be an auction show and mine had the highest bid!"_

 _"That's incredible! So what was it you made that got the highest bid?"_

 _Senko led her to the living room while taking a sip of his tea. He then pointed "4 of that."_

 _Vonna looked to where he was pointing and her jaw dropped in awe. What she saw on a table was a small carousel made of pine-coloured wood. Vonna slowly put her cup down and picked up the handmade ornament and saw the 4 different animals to ride on as she turned it around in her hands: there was a turtleduck, a tigerdillo, a dragon and a flying dolphin fish; all 4 animals with reins on their heads, fancy saddles almost covering their bodies and a little thin pole going through the centre of their backs._

 _"I made one in just 15 minutes, so I decided to make another 3 to pass the time. The 3 families I sold them too were really happy. They went for 500 gold pieces each. Shame it doesn't move on its own or make music like an actual one though." came Senko's voice. Vonna set it back down on the table and turned her head to Senko cupping his chin with her hands "It's still lovely darling."_

 _"Yeah." Senko said now looking away from his wife. All Vonna could make was him looking mildly upset. Vonna then knew what he was going to say, but refused to believe it "Don't tell me we were refused again."_

 _Senko gave a sigh and then looked right into Vonna's eyes. They were completely void of hope "We were refused."_

 _Vonna could no longer be upset at this. She just gave a frustrated "Ergh" and then stormed over to the sofa and sat down on it "What excuse could they have possibly have used this time? I actually want to know!"_

 _As Senko walked over to join her, he explained "I went there on my own this time like you said so they couldn't use excuses such as "Your wife is under suspicion of the abducted townspeople" or "Your wife's chosen appearance would be a bad influence to young minds". Now, their saying we're too young to adopt children."_

 _Vonna scoffed "That excuse is just absurd! 1: if that was what they truely thought, they would''ve said that the first time we went there! And 2: you turned 18 a week ago! That is literally the youngest grown up age which means **you** can adopt legally or at least be put on the waiting list!"_

 _It truely was, to use Vonna's vocabulary, absurd. Around a year and a half after moving to Hun Li, Senko and Vonna were doing so well in their lives ignoring the fact that everyone in town was afraid of Vonna and doubted her claim of innocence. But the spark they had between them was beginning to weaken and become dimmer. Neither of them wanted to separate or break up, but they didn't know how to re-ignite it. Then, Vonna realised it when she passed the town's foster home and saw a couple coming out with a new edition to their family; their lives were great and perfect, but what was the point of a great and perfect life when there is no one new to share the experience with you? After talking with Senko about it, they made the decision to adopt. Not because they couldn't have biological kids, but because they knew what it was like to be orphans and thought it would be nice for a third orphan to join their family and they could give said orphan the life that they wanted as kids; one with a loving mum and dad._

 _But that was 3 months ago. Every time they went there, they were refused to be put on the wait list mainly because of the accusations against Vonna as well as her physical appearance scaring anyone who laid eyes on her._

 _Out of the blue, she heard an amused "Huh" come from Senko. She turned and saw him smiling._

 _"What's funny?" Vonna asked, for some reason thinking he was laughing at her complaining. Senko said "I was just thinking... when I went to the orphanage today, there was a boy named Vosrue_ _I met when I was leaving."_

 _"Really?" Vonna asked now interested since they had never even met any of the kids there before. "And what was this Vosrue like?"_

 _"Honestly, he looks like a combination of us; he has **your** lovely tanned skin and **my** undeniable good looks." he said mockingly smoothing out his hair with his hand while fluttering his eyes. __Vonna couldn't hold in her laugh. As she did, she playfully pushed his left shoulder as he laughed with her "And also, unlike everyone else, he isn't afraid of you."_

 _Vonna's laughing stopped "Honestly?"_

 _"Yeah I know; I couldn't believe it either. He even thinks you're innocent and he's only around 5 or 6 years old." That meant a lot to Vonna. Hearing that there was someone in town wasn't scared of her... it was almost unbelievable. She now wished she had went with Senko so she could've seen this boy too. "Well he sounds like a very smart child."_

 _"He is." Senko continued as he pulled Vonna over to lie on his body and hugged "You know, he asked me in his little cute voice "Why don't you have your own kids like other mommies and daddies?"" he said in his 4 year old voice. "I told him how we could, but how we were in foster care all our lives and we wanted a loving mum and dad to take us in like anyone else in that situation would." Vonna closed her eyes and snuggled into Senko's arms further as he continued "He gave me an idea."_

 _Vonna's eyes open and she looked up at him "He suggested that they couldn't refuse people who were already parents."_

 _"Wait." Vonna said sitting up "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"_

 _Senko looked away from her "Look, I know we agreed to not have biological kids, but right now, it seems like our only way to become parents."_

 _"Senko, the whole point of not us having a biological child is so we could help orphans who are currently in the situation we were in as kids... sigh... and even if we did go with that suggestion and it worked, any adopted children probably wouldn't feel properly apart of the family. Plus, I'm worried that if we did have children of our own that we'd change our minds on adoption and that's something I want to do and it seems like us wanting to adopt is the only reason we have on having our own child."_

 _Senko's face remained calm and a smile was starting to form as he spoke "I know; I had the same thought at first because **I** really want to adopt as well... which is why I asked Vosrue if we did have a baby and then we got accepted on to the wait list, if **he'd** like to join our family and be a big brother." Vonna sat up and didn't take her eyes off Senko as he finished his sentence "He said he would."_

 _Relief flushed over Vonna as she and Senko stared at each other. Senko grabbed Vonna's hand as she added "And also, deep down, we both want a child of our own. We can't enjoy witnessing Vosrue's first words, first steps, first birthday or first anything because it's too late. But we could with our own baby and no one can stop that. I know it'll be hard to handle the smelly nappy changes; the crying; and, mainly for you, the 9 months of pregnancy... and I also **know** we want that."_

 _"We do." Vonna said before kissing him. What felt like an eternity filled with the feeling of bliss couldn't have been longer than a minute before Vonna said as Senko picked her up bridal style and headed for the bedroom "But one child is all I want. One child created between the 2 of us and then any other kids we want are to be adopted."_

 _"My thoughts exactly." Senko said quickly as they entered the bedroom and fell on to the bed for a night of unforgettable love._

* * *

 _9 months later:_

 _Vonna was at home on her cosy armchair finally finished painting the carousel Senko had made. She thought as she placed her brush down and put her hand on her pregnant stomach that the bright colours would make it more baby friendly. So she was happy that for her 18th birthday 10 days ago that Senko bought her art supplies and she was proud of her work. The outlines of the roof part and the little ball on the very top were painted with a glittery gold; the roof was a candy cane mix of light pink and light blue with dark pink fire nation insignias on the blue and dark blue insignias on the pink; and the main inside was painted completely light brown so that the animals would stand out. The animals were painted to look realistic with the poles going through their backs being painted with silver and thin, horizontal, white lines and their saddles and reins were painted in royal red and yellow._

 _Vonna smiled and brought the hand on her stomach up and down slowly and said in a cooing voice"This will be the first decoration of your room. Yes it will."_

 _Truth be told, there wasn't a kids room in the first place. Senko had somehow managed to build 3 new rooms for the past 9 months; one for the baby, one for an older child if they could adopt one (hopefully Vosrue) and one for Vonna to give birth in as she thought a home birth would be more relaxing and doing it in a room they didn't already love and would hate to be turned into a gooey, slippery mess. Also, she didn't think any of the nurses in the town's hospital would want to deliver "her" baby._

 _The door opened and Vonna looked up to see Senko come in with more baby supplies. She asked "Just how many more baby supplies do we need? We're only having one baby."_

 _"Maybe so, but wait until it's time to change the nappies; it's gonna stink as the baby get older and you're gonna thank me for buying this many scented candles and air freshners." he said pulling out a long red candle out of the bag and an air freshner can out of another bag. As he set them in a corner, he came over and saw the newly painted carousel. "You finished it? It looks great!"_

 _"Yeah, just now. Would've been sooner if their hadn't been a few contractions earlier." Vonna said placing her hands on her stomach and move them up and down a little._

 _"Wait, doesn't contractions mean that the baby's coming?" Senko said looking worried._

 _"That's what I thought, but then they stopped so I'm guessing I was just experiencing false labour."_

 _After a long pause of silence, Senko then looked up from her stomach and asked "Look, are you **sure** you don't want to go to the hospital?"_

 _"YES, I'm sure I don't." Vonna said with some force on her tone. As the day of delivery neared, Senko had been urging her to change her mind about a home birth and she understood why since they were about to become first-time parents anyday now and neither of them knew how to deliver a baby and could only rely on the books they had bought. But no one trusted Vonna in this town, so why should she trust them with her first baby? And somehow, she felt Senko would be okay with delivering their baby._

 _"I'm sorry." Senko said "I'm just worried. You know, something could go wrong since we never done anything like this before."_

 _"I'm scared too darling, but I feel a lot more calmer in my home and with no one who doesn't trust me anywhere in sight." Vonna said taking her hand off her stomach and on to Senko's right shoulder. He then smiled and sat on the left arm of the armchair and he and Vonna leaned in and kissed._

 _"AAH!" Vonna said pulling away and panting in and out. Senko then saw she was clutching near her stomach and quickly got off the chair "Vonna! Is something wrong?"_

 _Vonna began to speak "I- OH!" she said. Her face looked like a Kemurikage with eyes and a mouth. Senko panicked, but this time spoke more clamly and assertive "Vonna, say something. What's going on?"_

 _"My water broke."_

 _Senko's assertiveness disappeared from his eyes and was replaced with a mix of worry and joy "That's means-"_

 _"The baby's com- AAAAH!" was all Vonna got out before it was then constant agonising screaming._

* * *

"Then, what happened?" Zirin asked. Vonna's story was possibly the lengthiest, though Shiki secretly disagreed as she didn't tell the girls all of her story. They still couldn't believe that Vonna had a baby, though they did believe it explained her bond with 13 year old Shiki. Perhaps she thought of the girl as a surrogate child to replace the one she lost to kidnappers.

"I had the baby... a baby girl. She was so small... and so beautiful." Vonna said with her throat starting to bottle up with tears that were shed from her eyes "She had my hair and chin, her father's olive green eyes..." Vonna then wiped her eyes in took in a breath in attempt to stop the crying. It didn't work. "And we didn't even spend 10 minutes with her before our home was attacked and set on fire as we came out of the room with her in her daddy's arms."

"Your home was attacked right after you had a baby?" Tanni asked in horror. It seemed like nothing the girls had heard before. They were hoping it was a fairytale that would end with a happily ever after, but it wouldn't as Vonna continued "Senko thrusted her in my arms and pushed me out of the house as the roof began collapsing. He for some reason stayed in and tried to put the fire out inside, but it was... (sniffle)... it was too much for him to handle."

Vonna now seemed to be hiding her eyes as she couldn't stop crying from the thought of what happened that night she lost her home, her family and her freedom "As I tried to get up, 2 people completely covered in black from head to toe took advantage of me still having not recovered from labour and ripped my daughter right out of my grasp and fled. Our burning home attracted the town's officials and I tried to explain to them how my daughter had been kidnapped, but they only focused on me telling them how Senko was in there. They then dragged me away and didn't believe I had a daughter... they just wanted an excuse to get rid of me and sent me to the asylum saying I had killed the only man I ever loved and pretended to have a kidnapped daughter... no one believed me at all... they just saw me as the scary girl with the scary blood-coloured hairstyle."

Shiki then put her short arms and tiny hands around Vonna's neck and hugged into her as the older woman softly cried. Zirin thought what happened to her family was horrible, but not even watching your entire family die right before your eyes could compare to knowing that your child was being raised by false parents and would never even know the truth about her birth mother or how her father died saving her life. Then, she remembered something Azula had confided to her "Vonna." she said and didn't wait for her to look up "Azula told me something about this spirit in Hira'a; this spirit wasn't only able to give people new faces; it was able to find her mother who had been missing for almost a decade. Perhaps if we found the spirit, she could locate where your daughter is."

"And then what?"

"Then... maybe you could go to her a-and tell her the truth about you; how you're her mother, how her father died saving you both from a house fire."

"Yeah... you might even be able to find Vosrue as well if you asked that too." Shiki added in attempt to try and help with young adult women as most children do.

"Look ladies." Vonna said reverting back to her posh accent as she was retreating back behind her walls "As much as I would want to find my daughter, she probably has a great life with a family that genuinely loves her and I doubt she would want her perfect reality to be crushed with the knowledge that she'll never meet her birth father and that her birth mother allowed her to be taken away from her in less than the first 10 minutes of her life."

"Well, how do you know she has a great life?" Tanni asked. Fenang then asked after her "Not to sound so dark, but how do you know she's not dead?"

"Because 2 people don't run off with a baby just to kill it and my daughter was adorable; my guess was Senko talked about me being pregnant to people who thought they were saving her from the horrible shame that was her biological mother."

There were uncomfortable glances between the 2 girls for asking those questions. Pashi then brought up Tanni's question again "But how do you know if your daughter's happy with the life she has?" Vonna gave no answer. She appeared to be considering the possibility that maybe... just maybe, her daughter didn't have a happy life. Maybe she could somehow sense she stood apart from her so-called family that stole her away from her blood family and whenever she asks them about the subject, they lie to her. Then, Vonna's face sunk and she said "Look, the chances of my daughter not being happy with the life she was stole into over a decade ago are about the same chances of dragons still existing in the world. And we all know the last one was killed by Azula's uncle."

They nodded, starting to give up on convincing the stubborn mother who wasn't given a chance to be a mother. They were all looking down

"But..." Vonna said that caused everyone to look up at her face "... I guess it... couldn't hurt to just check when we have the time in Hira'a."

* * *

Azula breathed with relief as she finally reached the palace. She didn't waste too much time as her sighting by Mai's family would surely be reported and Azula guessed that Mai would go directly to Zuko herself as soon as she recovered from the spare sedatives the princess had. She now walked on the rooftops to save her energy as she would need to propel herself on to the roof of her former home in the fastest way possible. As she walked, she was going around the palace until she saw the window of the room she needed to go to; the guest bedroom that her mother's new daughter was staying in. She took a few steps back before she charged and jumped off. She felt herself falling and with all the fire she could muster at night, Azula shot out a massive blue fireball from her fists and feet for a split second and managed to land on the balcony's edge. She opened the window and walked in expecting to find the 5 year old in bed. But the room was completely empty. Mother was probably being over-protective of the child even more after what had happened tonight and Zuko probably told her that her monster of an eldest daughter was the one responsible for the kidnappings in the first place. She opened the door and poked her head out. No one was coming and so she walked to the room she needed to be in; her old bedroom.

She was about to walk in when she saw the door was open a little. She removed her mask and hood and pressed her ear on to the door to listen into the room in case someone was inside. She heard soft crying coming from inside. Azula guessed it was her half sister Kiki or Kylie or whatever her ridiculous peasant name was. Perhaps she wasn't the fighter she appeared to be in the bunker. But what was she doing in _her_ old bedroom?

Azula's teeth gritted and her fists balled up. Zuko probably hated losing that fight against her in the crypt and wanted some form of victory and he closest he could get to was giving his new little sister _her_ room. Azula couldn't have the brat screaming if she saw her; she would have to be knocked out while Azula left a message for Zuko explaining herself and also the death of cousin Lu Ten. She looked into her hands and saw she only had one sedative left. She would have to make it count. So, she pulled her hood up, put her mask back on her face with the sedative in her hand and swung the door open quietly.

But once she was in, Azula froze and underneath her emotionless mask were wide eyes with small pupils and an open mouth in shock at the sight before her. Sitting on the edge of her bed hugging and crying into a pillow wasn't a 5 year old girl recovering from her kidnapping. It was...

Ursa.

* * *

 **Notes on this chapter:**

 **Hun Li is a made up name given to the fire nation town Team Avatar are in in the episode "The Puppetmaster"**


End file.
